HAYMAKING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 270, 14 November 1928, Page 17

HAYMAKING.

*OST OPERATION

POINTS TO REMEMBER

(By BRACKEN".)

Summer is almost upon us, bringing with its fine weather on© of the most important operations on the farm— hay-making. In the course of the next few weeks in New Zealand alone, I suppose some hundreds of thousands of tons of hay will be harvested. It is one of the most universal farm operations, and one to which I am afraid too little care and attention is paid. Many dairymen in this country rely solely upon their hay to ensure themselves against a time of want. It is a case of putting all your eggs into one basket, and despite the old proverb to the contrary, it has its advantages, provided you pay due attention to that basket. On the other hand a failure means irretrievable disaster. I am, personally, a great believer in having, so to speak, a second line of defence. Our climate is fickle at the best of times, and we cannot prophesy with anything like certainty, as isr the case in California, what the weather conditions are going to be. For years, up to laet season, we had wet summers, accompanied by tremendous growth, making harvesting a long, difficult and unsatisfactory performance. Much of the hay harvested was got in a hurry, and „t a later date went up in emokeu Still more was mushy and almost valueless. Last year, on the other hand, the dry weather, more particularlyin the Auckland district, get in in November, and the hay crops in -in any instances were hardly worth cutting, all of which tends to prove that it is advisable to supplement your hay with something else.

In any case the hay crop is worth infinitely closer study than in many cases it receives. Its . feeding value is somewhat variable, 'and can differ to an enormous extent by reason of, not only its constituents, but its handling. It can easily be valueless except as packing, and on the contrary it can be a very valuable feed. During the course of some twenty-five years as a farmer, I huve helped to harvest some strange san.plea in the way of hay, and I very much doubt if more than 60 per cent of it was worth the labour and time involved.

There still appears to be a section of the farming community to whom hay meant dried grass. In reality, there is a vast difference. The former is a valuable win-cured feed, cut at the right moment, handled with care, nutrition*

and appetising. The latter has lost its nutritive value, is dusty, injurious and unpalatable.

It would seem rather unnecessary in a country such as this, where the dairying industry is the mainstay of our salvation, where we flatter ourselves on being above all things good farmers, to waste time and space on an elaborate and lengthy article on such a universally performed farm operation. At the same time, there are doubtless those amongst us whose experience as farmers has been brief, and for their benefit I would suggest that when preparing for and harvesting their hay they would remember that—:

(1) Only the best of materials should be used. The crop necessitates a considerable expenditure in labour and the loss of the use of a paddock for some two months. On high-priced land this is a very serious consideration. Nothing but the best paddock on the farm should be closed for hay. Clover, cocksfoot ana ryegrass should, where possible, be its foundation.

(2) The hay crop is a heavy drain on your land, and consequently you cannot afford to be miserly with your manure il you expect to get results.

The use of the harrows before shutting up the paddock is an excellent stimulant and serves the double purpose of gathering all rubbish. Infinite delay and annoyance can be caused by bits of wire and other rubbish in the crop.

(4) Don't leave your mower until the day you ought to start cutting before you overhaul it. This is a matter that should be seen to during the many wet days that we experience during the winter.

(5) Make sure that your machine knives are in good order and that you have plenty of horse-power. A weak team in a mower or binder means slow, bad work. With a fast team of sufficient strength a _ lot of ground can bo covered in ten hours.

(6) Don't start to cut until your crop is ready. The clover should be in flower. If the crop is left standing too long all nourishment goes out of the straw and the leaves and seed of the clover are lost in the subsequent handling.

(7) Once the cutting is finished, work the jcrop as little as is consistent with safety. In clover hay particularly undue turning and handling is injurious. In a very heavy crop more handling is neces sary, but the old method of continually tossing and turning has, .1 thjnk, been proved detrimental. In the average crop two or three days should be ample to cure it. If it is left in the paddock too long its nutritive value suffers. (8) Quife apart from the uncertainty of the weather, speed in stacking is f essential. It is better to have too much help than too little. (9) Once your stack has settled thatching should be done. The practice of waiting until the weather has broken

is not good. Even a few hours' rain does no good, and it is obvious foolishness to spoil a fine product, harvested at no little expense, for the sake of covering it.

Lastly, build the fence round youi stack of such strength that stock will leave it well alone. Dairy cows have a most disconcerting aptitude for finding the weakest spot in a fence, more especially a temporary one. They appear to be obsessed with the idea that where they can get their heads their bodies can follow. Barbed-wire has been responsible for the loss of more valuable stock than is realised.